Thursday, November 29, 2012

Wall of Warmth and Security












My garage was terribly cold and hard to get the motivation to work in. Since I sold the Versys and the dirt bike, I have more room  to work and I decided to build a wall.  Garry (handsome man in the Cereal Killer shirt) helped me frame it in, hang the drywall and plywood and install the door. I did the insulation myself after he left on day one, but that was quick and easy. Day two lasted all of 2 hours as hanging drywall is pretty straight forward.

 

The garage now stays about 59 degrees all the time and outside temps are usually below freezing. I have a small heater in there that kicks on when it dips below 64, but only when I am out there. The option of a warm room is great in assisting with curing and other “room temp” activities.  Pretty soon here I will be building two more benches, some shelves and running some more circuits for machinery.

 

A customer came in last night and saw the wall and was impressed that I had built it since he had been in two weeks prior. I am going at this as hard as I can without it becoming a burden, so someday I will tear this thing down and work out of a separate space; all in good time.

 

 

Saiga 12 build V2.0









I have done several Saiga builds over the last couple years and this time I am going as fast as I can in an effort to see what the quickest possible turnaround time would be.  The first pic was at the 23 minute point if I am remembering clearly and the second was at about 30 even.  The grip screw hole was cut, some parts were slapped in and the hammer was ground down to allow full range of motion and I re-colored the receiver; to this point it was about 1:30 of solid pit crew work.

Last night I fitted the Mako folding stock which took all of 10 minutes, but I will have to be creative with where to shave what in order for it to lock in the folded position without making it look obscene when open. Clearance issues will make or break any machine as well as draw undue attention to it.

So….  Tl;dr    Most people don’t care about guns like I do, but this is fun.  The completed shotty should come in at about the 3 hour mark and be fun and cool.  My buddy will be pleased at the progress and hopefully enjoy it for years to come.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Saving Some MON-AAAYYY!!

Last year I tried to refinance my castle and got kicked in the proverbial nads due to my credit score. I had even worked a night shift at a new job site to pick up some overtime and was woken up with a denial phone call. Sweet!

 

So, I tried to re-fi again this year and have not been holding my breath. This morning, I was woken up by a call from the bank saying that it was all approved! This is great news.  The interest rate is going down by almost 3% and I am changing insurance companies; turns out I’ve been paying nearly double for insurance for the last four years.

 

Below are a few examples of what I can now afford each month due to my savings!

·         91 pounds of grass-fed organic ground beef at Bill the Butcher

·         279 cans of C20 coconut water. (Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night… all day)

·         Four new tires for my car

·         Fancy smart phone without contract

·         110 Pumpkin spice lattes

·         Full service on the Subaru’s front and rear differentials.

·         29 boxes of ammo for my .45

 

Getting the picture now?

 

Actually, this just means I’ll stress less and not actually GET more. It is something that, on the surface, seems like extra cash, but I’ll be doing my best to put this “breathing room” to use.

 

Holler back

 

 

Friday, November 9, 2012

Zombie blog... I'm back!!

So… it’s been super long since I have added anything here…  updates since last post are the following

·         My friend Ken died October 13th, peacefully in his home.

·         Managed to not shoot a deer all season

·         Business is picking up and I have been learning more and more all the time

·         Quit school (not as tragic as some might think) and I feel great!

·         Been making lots of changes to the shop

·         Sold the Versys and the Honda; I am motorcycle free.

 

Aside  from these bullet points,  I have just been doing the norm. Eating a semi-strict Primal or Paleo diet has kept the pounds off, kept me in less pain and my family annoyed.